Chapter 78
Chapter 78: The
Heirloom Jade Seal of the Realm [2]
Translator: Xah
Qi Xi’s hands holding
the box shook unconsciously. Zhang Qiu was also nervous. The air in the
atmosphere suddenly condensed to seriousness.
“Maybe it’s someone
prank.” Zhang Qiu used light tone as to soothe Qi Xi, who was now looking so
keyed up.
Qi Xi made an “en”
sound, stabilized his mind and opened the box. There was a wooden case inside
with a Jade Bi on it. The white Jade Bi was flawlessly carved with vein lines,
which shockingly was a map. Qi Xi didn’t look at it and handed the Jade Bi to
Zhang Qiu. His heart was thumping violently but when he put his hand on the
wooden case lid, it stopped.
Pa.
The case was opened.
A pair of bloody eyes
was quietly placed in the case.
Zhang Qiu was shocked
to jump. It was a pair of human eyes.
The atmosphere turned
silence.
Holding the wooden
case, the back of Qi Xi’s hands emerged blue tendons. He clasped the case so
forcibly and said in cold blood: “I will kill them, I will kill them.”
“Maybe—” Zhang Qiu was
startled by his own dry voice. “Maybe it’s someone else’s.”
Li Shu picked up the
box on the floor. “There’s a letter.”
Qi Xi hugged the wooden
case, his whole person wrapped in uncontrollable rage, looking as if he would
shift at any time. Pei Qing steadied him and Li Shu quickly opened the letter.
【I like his cold eyes, but who told him to
look into the people he shouldn’t be looking. Find the Imperial Jade Seal of
the Realm according to the Jade Bi. In the meantime, I want Li Shu’s Divine
Soul, your wings, Pei Qing’s Dragon’s horn, and the Phoenix’s gall. If I don’t
collect them, I don’t mind doing it myself next time. Not only does he have
beautiful eyes, but there are other places on him that are worth sending to you
for appreciation. 】
Pei Qing held Qi Xi
firmly. When Qi Xi saw the contents of the letter, his eyes turned bloodshot,
and he couldn’t control his roar.
“I’m going to kill him
(her).”
“Calm down, Qi Xi. Qi
ZhiRong is waiting for you to save him.”
The raging Qi Xi slowly
calmed down when he heard Zhang Qiu’s words. He held the case tightly in his
hands, gritted his teeth while his eyes erupted with anger, “I must make sure
they don’t die well.”
Zhang Qiu read the
letter again. Qi Zhirong was supposed to help look into the people behind the
scene but he looked at the people who he shouldn’t be looking. So, the person
who sent the letter might be the subordinate of the person behind the scene.
The name Christine flashed in his mind.
“What’s happened out
here?”
The voice came from
their backs, in the corridor. Perhaps Qi Xi’s roar was too loud just now. Zhang
Qiu looked back and saw Yue QinCang with Kai Ming carried on his back. He
turned to see Qi Xi’s eyes filled with blood as he suppressed his anger, so he
(ZQ) whispered everything to the two.
Although Yue QinCang
had never seen Qi ZhiRong, he almost became an accomplice to the group that
harmed Qi ZhiRong, therefore his heart felt heavy. He never thought that these
people were so vicious.
Kai Ming on his back
looked at Qi Xi.
“Find Qi ZhiRong first.
My armor plate can mend his eyes, but only if his eyes are properly preserved.”
His armor plates
wouldn’t work if his eyes rot. It’s all because these people helped him all the
way, whether it was the clothes Zhang Qiu bought for him or Qi Xi who helped
him take care of him, he never liked to owe others.
Qi Xi’s hold tightened
at once. He stroked the wooden case, “How about I freeze it?”
Zhang Qiu didn’t know
if it could work, he looked at Kai Ming. Kai Ming frowned, “You don’t want his
vision to be affected, better not.”
“Let Xiao Fei try.” Li
Shu suggested.
Zhang Qiu suddenly
thought of the duck Xiao Fei swallowed up yesterday. He took Xiao Fei out of
his pocket and poked the red fog. Xiao Fei looked as though he didn’t sleep
enough and after hearing Daddy’s inquiry, he nodded.
However, Zhang Qiu was
afraid that, what if Xiao Fei’s ability to keep it was just like a storage
cabinet and something went wrong after keeping it in for a long time?
The mass of red fog
spit out a grape. Xiao Jiang pointed to it and said, “I gave it to meimei
yesterday.”
Whenever Xiao Jiang saw
any delicious food, he would slip them to Xiao Fei, but Xiao Fei’s stomach was
so small, it was full at once. Afraid of hurting his gege’s heart, he collected
them into the red fog, planning to eat them later.
There were fresh drops
of water on the grape, which looked the same as when they ate it yesterday.
“This child has the
isolation space devouring ability.” Kai Ming raised his eyebrow as he didn’t
expect that such a small child could be so powerful. “Qi Xi, you can store Qi
ZhiRong’s eyes in Xiao Fei’s place, and when you find Qi ZhiRong, you can
immediately put the eyes back.”
Qi Xi solemnly handed
the case to Xiao Fei, “Thank you, Xiao Fei. He’ll be in your care.”
Xiao Fei nodded his
little head and the red fog scattered to wrap the wooden case. Then the wooden
case vanished from sight.
Because of Qi ZhiRong’s
mishap, Qi Xi was in frenzy. Although he seemed very calm, Zhang Qiu knew that
Qi Xi didn’t want to stay in the hotel for a second. A situation where one
could do nothing would drive people crazy.
Zhang Qiu started to
study the map with Senior Brother in Beijing through video call all night. The
two analyzed it together and finally came to the conclusion that it fit
Chenghai City in Mongolia.
The Mongolia stated
here was not the Inner Mongolia, but today’s Mongolia. Chenghai City had long
disappeared. It was a city in the territory of the Yuan Dynasty at that time.
“I’m in trouble. We
need visas if we want to go.” Zhang Qiu felt a headache coming. They needed to
start as soon as possible. Those people were not human beings, if they could
dig out Qi ZhiRong’s eyes, who knew what they would do to Qi ZhiRong later.
Hua Ting knew about Qi
ZhiRong, he said: “This is not a problem. I’ll entrust someone to handle it,
you guys give me the ID card information.”
At six o’clock the next
morning, Zhang Qiu immediately said: “When our earliest flight leaves for
Beijing, we’ll trouble Senior Brother for the visa issue.” He bustled up to run
out, Li Shu pulled him. He didn’t sleep all night while Li Shu stayed with him.
“I’ll go to ask them
for ID card information. You pack up and wash, we’re going to set out.” Li Shu
kissed Zhang Qiu’s head. “Sleep in the car.”
“Okay.”
Li Shu went to ask for
everyone’s ID card, but the problem was that Kai Ming was an unregistered
resident. In the end, it was Yue QinCang who helped using social connections,
but it was just impossible to leave for Beijing today. Ultimately, after a
quick consultation it was decided that Kai Ming and Yue QinCang would be
joining them later once their passports and visas were settled.
“We’ll meet you as soon
as possible.” Kai Ming’s eyes were dark and cruel. “If you touch my things, you
have to think of the price.”
Next to him, Yue
QinCang trembled. He was feeling more regretful of cooperating with Christine’s
group of people. He was tangled up with this old [freshwater soft-shelled]
turtle Kai Ming and had to work like a horse and an ox all day.
Everyone set out. It’s
only over nine o’clock in the morning when they arrived in Beijing. Qi Xi had a
gloomy face all the way. There were many fans in the airport that recognized
him, but no one dared to step forward and disturb him at the moment. Standing
not far away in hesitation, they took photos secretly with their mobile phones.
Zhang Qiu patted Qi Xi
on the shoulder. “You can rest assured that Qi ZhiRong will be rescued. He’ll
be fine.”
They got on the car and
went straight to Senior Brother’s house. The visas couldn’t be issued until
noon. During this period of time, Zhang Yushui prepared things. The things such
as ironware and dagger couldn’t even be considered to bring along as those
couldn’t go through the security check at the airport. He just brought cinnabar
talisman papers and some magic tools.
Zhang Qiu and the group
followed Senior Brother to enter the study.
Hua Ting pointed to the
map and said, “This is the map of the Yuan Dynasty[1] and this is
the latest map of it. It is said that Chenghai City is behind the snow
mountain, near the Zabukhan River. The imperial jade seal they wanted is a
Heshi Jade Bi[2]. After Qin unified, Ying Zheng[3] made it
out of Heshi Jade Bi and Li Si[4] engraved (eight) characters of
“Having received the Mandate from Heaven, may (the emperor) lead a long and
prosperous life” onto it. Later, the country rose and fell. It was reported
that the Heirloom Jade Seal of the Realm appeared in the Yuan Dynasty. But back
then, the powers that be didn’t take it out at all. Nowadays, it is believed to
be a rumor and currently it seems to be true.”
Later, when the Qing
Dynasty [last dynasty] established, no imperial jade seal was ever handed down
and so he (Qinq Emperor) made it himself for comfort, treating as he was the
emperor ordained by heaven.
“I haven’t been there
either, so I can only make this route out of the map. Please refer to it
first.” Hua Ting gave the route he made to his Junior.
It wasn’t long before
Lu Feng hurried back to bring the visas. Seeing that they were in a hurry, he
said: “I’ve something for you guys, don’t know if you can use it. There are
some things you can’t forget to bring if you are in a hurry.”
Lu Feng had also gone
down the pit, so he consulted the people in that profession. The snow mountain
of Mongolia was also a harsh winter that one could well imagine how challenging
it would be. The journey in itself was dangerous, they should pay more
attention to it. So last night, when he heard that Zhang Qiu and the others
were going to Chenghai State, he got up early to prepare GPS waterproof
watches, trekking poles, backpacks, sleeping bags, and so on.
“There must not be
enough time to prepare when you arrive there. We can’t help much but can still
provide logistics.” Hua Ting looked at the several people. “Come back safely.”
“Thank you.” Qi Xi
said.
Lu Feng had everything
completely prepared while still very convenient to carry them. After all, to
climb the snow mountain, they needed to be packaged as plainly as possible. A
backpack of 40~50 catty load could be summed up very neat. There was also high
calorie food inside.
The group carried their
backpacks and Xiao Jiang waved goodbye to Hua Hua. They got on the car and
headed for the airport.
They had a few bites at
random in the airport before getting on the plane directly to Mongolia and
arrived at 3 in the afternoon. The temperature here was colder. The wind blew
on people’s skin felt like a blade. The person who picked them up was a local
people Lu Feng had arranged. A young boy, not tall but very robust with rough
black and red skin, wore a toothy smile, looked very simple and honest, and
fluent in Mandarin.
After a brief
introduction, Bayin took them directly to the hotel in Khovd City. According to
Senior Brother, the city was closest to the snow mountain and the disappearing
Chenghai City. They had to find an old local hunter before they could enter the
snow mountain. Bayin was only responsible for helping them find people, to find
a hotel and to serve as a handy man.
It was dark when they
reached the hotel. They had been rushing for a long time and now they were so
hungry that the stomach was beginning to gurgle. Qi Xi had no appetite and
didn’t want to go down for dinner. Zhang Qiu didn’t force him but planned to bring
some back to Qi Xi after he ate. They didn’t go far, but to a restaurant near
the hotel, planning to settle (the stomach) quickly.
Khovd City was an
ancient city in the west of Mongolia. Although it was the provincial capital,
its development was very slow. Especially in winter, there were few pedestrians
on the streets. In the restaurant, there were also two local random people
drinking wine and chatting.
The shop owner was a
robust man and quite valiant. He was flabbergasted once he saw them and said in
awkward Mandarin: “It’s cold, come to travel?” He then asked his daughter to
pour them milk tea to welcome them.
The menu here was all
in Mongolian, which they couldn’t understand, but the good thing was that the
owner could speak little Mandarin and they ordered the meal by gesticulating
action.
Roasted lamb, fried
rice, skin on boiled milk, and so on.
It was too cold and
there was no heater in the restaurant. The owner seemed to be unable to feel
the cold, perhaps he was very used to it. Zhang Qiu saw that the owner’s
daughter’s fingers were swollen like dried radish, but she was very quick to
make the milk tea for them. When it was Xiao Jiang’s turn, the little girl had
even smile and said in Mongolian. Although Zhang Qiu couldn’t understand it, he
could feel the kindness of the other party, which was probably praising Xiao
Jiang.
“Your daughter is
pretty,” said the owner.
Zhang Qiu looked down.
His Xiao Jiang’s small face, framed with a rabbit fur hat, was white and
tender, his eyes were big and two dimples were out. He looked like a cute girl.
“Boy.” Xiao Jiang
pouted as he emphasized.
Zhang Qiu thought to
himself, you blown your top when you are called a girl, but you called
Xiao Fei ‘meimei’ all day long, won’t your conscience hurt?!
The owner’s daughter’s
eyes were wide open in great surprise and spoke Mongolian to the owner. The
owner replied two sentences and then held up his thumb to praise Xiao Jiang,
“Pretty.”
As they were talking
here, the two drinking people looked over curiously. They smilingly said
Mongolian, which perhaps praising Xiao Jiang.
Before long, Bayin came
over. Maybe he was in a hurry, his Mandarin mixed with Mongolian as he roughly
told them that the guide he had found to take them to the snow mountain broke
his leg and could not go tomorrow.
Zhang Qiu put down his
chopsticks. He didn’t expect they would be so unfavorable.
“If you can find
someone else as soon as possible, we can double the pay.”
Bayin shook his head.
“It’s going to take a few more days. It snowed two days ago. Now it’s hard to
get into the snow mountain and it’s unlikely to get out…” Then, he mixed with
Mongolian, saying how dangerous was the snow mountain and such.
They could wait, but Qi
ZhiRong couldn’t. Zhang Qiu supposed that if they couldn’t find someone to
guide, Qi Xi would rush into the snow mountain.
The eyebrows of all the
people were tight. All of a sudden, they heard the man who was drinking in the
back jabbered a lot, obviously speaking to them. Bayin was a little happy and
quickly translated: “He said he could take you.” Then he named the price.
Obviously, the other
party was moved when he heard Zhang Qiu’s price through Ba Yin. When he saw
that they didn’t looked convince, he said again. Mainly, he boasted that he had
hunted in the snow mountain.
Zhang Qiu hesitated a
little while Li Shu looked at Bayin. “You tell him that we are going to enter
the snow mountain. If he guide halfway, we won’t give a dime.”
Bayin translated
truthfully and the man who was a little bit drunk waved his hand in refusal
after he thought about it. Perhaps he thought Zhang Qiu and his group were
tourists who only wanted to wander around the snow mountain, which he could do.
However, if they went in, they would lose his life.
It was possibly that he
felt he had lost face, the talkative man and his companion settled accounts and
left in a hurry.
In the restaurant,
Zhang Qiu and the others frowned and thought about how to enter the snow
mountain tomorrow. If it was really out of question, then they could just fight
their way in.
“You guys want [to
enter][5] the snow mountain?” The owner came out of nowhere, wiped
his hands and gesticulated as he spoke. Bayin was not very excited this time
because of the previous lesson. He said to Zhang Qiu: “The owner said that he
knows someone who can take you in.”
Right now, they had no
guide and could only keep trying everything in a desperate situation, so Zhang
Qiu said: “You ask the details, we need to go inside the
mountain.”
Bayin negotiated with
the owner. Although Zhang Qiu couldn’t understand Bayin’s meticulous questions,
but the owner answered very seriously, that he thought there might be a way.
Sure enough, Bayin
said: “The owner is talking about the old hunter in his village, where he used
to be a villager at the foot of the snow mountain, but later came to the city
to do business. There is an uncle in his village. Allegedly, he had been lost
in the snow mountain when he was a child, and it was that uncle who brought him
out. The uncle relies on the mountain all day to get things, he has rich
experience. He said you can ask for the uncle in Enhe Village.”
He also told them where
the uncle’s house was and so on.
Zhang Qiu and the
others looked at each other and decided to go to Enhe Village tomorrow. If that
uncle couldn’t do it, there would always be other hunters at the foot of the
snow mountain.
Having had a meal,
Bayin took them to Enhe Village where the owner had mentioned the next morning.
It was very close to the snow mountain; a high mountain with vast whiteness
extending forever into the distance. One couldn’t see the end of it. Zhang
Qiu’s heart sank. What he thought about the snow mountain was too simple.
Without a guide, this would be like looking for a needle in a haystack.
There was snow in the
wind. He had just got off the car and the wind blew, Zhang Qiu felt that his
eyelashes could freeze. He pulled down his hat and held Xiao Jiang’s hand. “Are
you cold?”
“Not cold, Daddy.” Xiao
Jiang was only wearing a hat and Zhang Qiu wrapped the scarf for him that was
pulled down. His face was rosy and looked not afraid of cold at all. Zhang Qiu
was relieved and also envied his son’s various innate skills and technical
abilities.
Anyway, such an amazing
son called him Daddy, which meant he was also very amazing.
The houses in Enhe
Village were scattered ad sparsely populated. Bayin led them and found the shabbiest
house with a wooden courtyard gate surrounded by snow.
“Who?!”
Bayin said their
purpose through the gate. The gate opened, showing a wrinkled black reddish
face. All over his eyes were full of pleats and the gaze that shifted at the
strangers outside the gate was sharp, showing the wisdom of an elder.
“Enter the snow
mountain, and into it?”
This sentence was said
in Mandarin.
Zhang Qiu was surprised
that the uncle could speak Standard Mandarin very well, and hurriedly said: “We
want to find people. Our friend is inside it.”
“Find people!” The
uncle looked at Zhang Qiu, pondered before he nodded, “Come in to talk first.”
[1] the Yuan or
Mongol dynasty (1279-1368)
Qing
dynasty (1636–1912) was the last imperial dynasty of China.
[2] the jade of the
He family — a priceless gem
[3] Ying Zheng
(260-210 BC), personal name of the first emperor 秦始皇[Qin Shi huang]
[4] Li Si (c. 280-208
BC), Legalist philosopher, calligrapher and Prime minister of Qin kingdom and
Qin dynasty from 246 to 208 BC
[5] The owner only said “you guys want the snow mountain?”
Comments
Post a Comment